Booster amplifiers are bi-directional amplifiers used for increasing the sensitivity and power output of cell phones and other devices that are communicating through them. The use of a booster amplifier, however, may disrupt cellular systems of both the network through which the device is communicating and other cellular networks that the device is not communicating through.
The adverse effects of a booster amplifier can result in a power overload situation, where excessive power overshadows other devices and causes them to be dropped or disconnected. A booster amplifier can also increase the noise floor, which decreases the sensitivity of a base station. Increasing the noise floor often decreases the coverage area of a base station and impairs cellular service.
In addition to the disruption of cellular systems, an improperly functioning booster amplifier can cause a subscriber's signal, as received by base stations, to be weaker than necessary. This can result in poor reception of the subscriber's signal by base stations. Under certain conditions, this could even inhibit a subscriber from placing or receiving calls.
Conventional attempts to solve these problems rely on changing the gain of the booster amplifier. However, these attempts often fail to sufficiently protect the cellular network from all of the negative effects that booster amplifiers may cause. These attempts may overly protect the cellular network, for example, by reducing the amplification of the booster amplifier more than necessary. This results in less than optimum performance of the booster amplifier so that a subscriber using the booster amplifier is not able to achieve the maximum benefit that would be obtained from an optimally performing booster amplifier, i.e. one that enables maximum gain/power while remaining compatible with cellular systems.